If you’ve never seen the classic short “Powers of Ten,” I’ve got a treat for you. Created in 1968 for IBM by Charles and Ray Eames (yes, of Eames Chair fame), the film has a very simple premise: start at a static scene, then start zooming out, at one “power of ten” per ten seconds — for example, from 10² meters to 10³ meters. As we zoom out, we see the earth, the solar system, the galaxy, and so forth. Once we reach 10²⁴ meters (the size of the observable universe), the camera then begins a faster zoom-in…and goes beyond the original scene, into the microscopic scale and beyond.

For me, “Powers of Ten” is an educational touchstone — it’s a film I was shown several times in science classrooms, and to this day, I find it captivating in its simplicity and power. All you do is zoom way out and zoom way in — the universe is just a matter of perspective.

For more, check out “Powers of Ten” on Wikipedia, and the official “Powers of Ten” website.

(Thanks to Kottke.org for pointing to this YouTube clip!)

On June 12, 2009, vocalist Bobby McFerrin participated in a panel discussion called “Notes & Neurons: In Search of a Common Chorus” at the World Science Festival. As part of the discussion, he performed an amazing feat — he trained an audience, in mere seconds, to become a sort of human keyboard. In the video below, McFerrin points to the floor, sings a note, then makes the audience sing it. He steps to one side and sings the next note, and again, the audience sings it. The audience proceeds to sing notes as a sort of gigantic human keyboard/chorus as McFerrin jumps back and forth on stage.

McFerrin then says: “Now, what’s interesting to me about that is, regardless of where I am — anywhere — every audience gets that. It’s just that the pentatonic scale, for some reason….” One of the scientists on the panel raises the question: “Just to phrase the question scientifically, Larry, what the hell just happened here?” Just watch this. It’s neat and it’s short:

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

For the entire program (including “what this has to do with science”), check out the Notes & Neurons site, which has a five-part video series showing the full discussion. Note: Part Four has the bit with McFerrin’s pentatonic scale demonstration and the subsequent discussion.

Neurologist Oliver Sacks prefers Bach to Beethoven — I’m just the opposite. But enough about me, let’s talk Sacks. Dr. Sacks volunteered to have his brain scanned while listening to each composer’s music. What’s interesting is that listening to Bach has a visible effect on his brain, which isn’t present when listening to Beethoven — more regions of the brain “light up” to demonstrate his engagement with the Bach. What’s particularly remarkable is that even when Sacks doesn’t consciously know which composer he’s listening to, his brain still prefers Bach and activates just as it does with the known-to-be-Bach pieces (as seen on a brain scan) when listening. Watching the fascinating video below for a clip from NOVA’s “Musical Minds” show, which first aired last year. After the jump, you can watch the whole NOVA episode (in six pieces, but it should auto-play through) on YouTube.

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So it turns out that when a drop of water falls into a pool of water, some very weird things happen. Rather than merging directly with the pool of water beneath, the drop very briefly becomes a sphere resting atop the pool, with an air layer between. When the sphere touches the water below (because of gravity, it forces the air layer away), most of the drop joins the water below and a second sphere is created, which again “floats” briefly on the pool. The cycle continues until eventually the water drop is actually fully subsumed by the water puddle below. Who knew? Check it out in this video clip, apparently from the Discovery show Time Warp, which is all about ultra-slow-mo (this video is shot at 2,000 frames per second, which is about 67 times more than normal 30fps video).

(Via Kottke.org.)

The possibility of life on Mars and other planets and moons has been debated for as long as we have known about those planets. Now that water has been found on the Mars, that possibility is more believable than ever. Sure, conditions are fierce on Mars, but research here on planet Earth reveals that life forms can be tough. In fact, wherever it was once thought that no life could exist, more and more organisms are being found that not only live, but thrive and evolve.

Hot Springs

The boiling waters of Yellowstone National Park and other extreme thermal environments have species of thermophiles, or organisms that thrive in temperatures that would kill most living things. These thermophiles have specialized enzymes that keep their DNA from unraveling the way other life forms would. Chemicals from various thermophile species are used for a range of biochemical applications, such as DNA fingerprinting technology. Image by Flickr user v1ctory_1s_m1ne.

The Dead Sea

The Dead Sea has such a high saline content that pillars of salt form on its banks. Yet Halobacterium salinarum lives in its waters. Halobacterium is one of the most ancient of microbes, and depends more on light for survival than on oxygen. It adjusts its own needs according to the available light and oxygen. Image by Flickr user CharlesFred.

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Two weeks ago I wrote about The Story of Pi, a semi-educational retro video that visually explains Pi. One commenter (lynn) pointed out a song I hadn’t heard before, The Pi Song by Antoni Chan and Ken Ferrier. I present it below for your weekend edutainment. Set to the tune of the classic Don McLean song “American Pie,” this is kind of a hoot. (NOTE: the video below is just the first part; for the whole thing check out this video.)

Complete lyrics after the jump.

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Update: the entire documentary is now available online for free!

A new PBS* documentary, The Botany of Desire, premieres Wednesday night (tonight!) at 8pm on PBS stations throughout the US. It’s based on the popular Michael Pollan book of the same name, and I urge you to carve out two hours (in most markets between 8pm – 10pm) on Wednesday night to watch it. The program is packed with science, history, and beautiful photography.

I’ve seen the film in advance, and I highly recommend it, particularly if you’re interested in any of the four plants featured in it: tulip, marijuana, potato, and apple. By telling the stories of these plants, Pollan explains how in some ways the plants are manipulating us, rather than the other way around — in the same way that flowers “use” bees to spread their pollen, these plants have “used” humans to spread themselves across the planet and out-compete other plants. One note: the program may not be suitable for young children, as there is use of the word “sex” (as applied to plants) and discussion of marijuana. It also might be pretty boring for the under-twelve set (despite beautiful flower photography), unless they’re thoroughly nerdy.

Here’s a preview of the documentary:

After the jump, I include some notes on each plant discussed in the documentary.

The Apple – Good for Booze AND for Eatin’

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In honor of Bill Nye’s appearance (yelling “I’m just a speck!”) in We Are All Connected, I thought I’d round up some clips of his classic science show for kids. Enjoy!

Quicksand!

Quicksand is just really, really wet land!

Illusions!

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Did you enjoy the auto-tuned “Cosmos” song featuring Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking? If so, get ready for more science/music awesomeness. Here’s another song and video by the same artist (Colorpulse) featuring: Carl Sagan, Richard Feynman, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Bill Nye.

You can download MP3s and learn more from SymphonyOfScience.com.

Complete lyrics are after the jump.

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I’m not sure whether this counts as a science video or just a “stupid human trick,” but either way: did you know that baby shampoo lets you blow huge bubbles from your mouth? Brandon Hardesty thinks it’s AMAZING. And it kind of is. Amaze your babies, your friends, your pets…but maybe not your parents.

This is just a short video of Mr. Hardesty showing his masterful technique for blowing huge bubbles using baby shampoo. Slightly gross (since he gets baby shampoo all over his face and neck) but work-safe.

(Via Waxy.org.)